3 Comments:

My Two Dollars' article didn't sway me at all and in fact made me unsubscribe to his blog feed. If everybody that had a justifiable reason for walking away from their mortgage did so, it would set off a never ending cycle of new people walking away every time the property values declined from the previous batch walking away, until the entire real estate market is decimated. It's a zero sum game, and if you walk away thinking you 'won', in reality someone else loses, and don't be naive enough to think it's just the big, bad faceless bank. Your neighbors lose as property values fall, the municipality you reside in and everybody that lives there loses as property tax revenues fall and services, and even local children lose since property tax revenue funds schools.

If it were up to me, nobody would waste their time reading this article, but then again, what do I know? After all I'm in the minority since I'm living in a house that I owe more on but have never questioned whether or not to make the payments.

Perhaps I was a little glib in my comment. I apologize. I think he simply tapped into the frustration so many of us feel toward banks right now. I might have gotten a tad carried away.

I do think that people need to live up to their commitments. I get sick of the argument that they owe more than the house is worth. So long as you can make your payments, you have a roof over your head. So what's the big deal?

And even if you can't make the payments and leave/arrange for a short sale, I'm of the firm belief that you still owe the money. You signed for it. Short of out-and-out fraud on the bank's part, you took on a responsibility and there's no good excuse for letting go of that just because things didn't work out. I've argued this in past posts, in fact.

I think there are more people like you than it might seem, Money Beagle. I know of at least a couple bloggers off the top of my head who are in your situation. Funny About Money for one. And one blogger MSN Money talks about, something along the lines of "Where's my ocean view?"

No apologies necessary. I didn't mean to come across as attacking you for posting the link. I agree the banks are frustrating to deal with and I appreciate that aspect of the article, but I get frustrated because the original article doesn't consider all of the 'real' people affected by this other than the person walking away and not having to look back. It seems to advocate a continuation of the 'me-first' attitude that got us into the mess in the first place. I think and hope that you're right and that we've hit the crest of people walking away, and that we'll see people that love and respect their home and neighbors and who aren't willing to walk away from an obligation that they agreed to take on, even if it hurts.

I was actually going to mention Funny in my original comment, because hers is one of my absolute favorite blogs!

Thanks for the response and again, my apologies if I inadvertently directed my frustration your way.

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About Me

My husband and I both have chronic health problems that have put us in debt, both because of doctor bills and from a reduced ability to work. We've moved to Phoenix, which has helped some of my husband's conditions. But it will be awhile before we can truly be out of debt.

I write this blog because not everyone frivolously consumed his way into debt. Not everyone can be, as I like to say, the Martha Stewart of frugality.

I try to use my blog to explore frugality in an imperfect world, because I think that's a lot more realistic. Even people without chronic health problems can have life overrun their best frugal intentions.